Android Cupcake, to Android Donut, to Android 2.1 Eclair, to Android 2.3 Froyo, to Android 2.3 Gingerbread, to Android 3.0 Honeycomb, to Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich

Android Cupcake, to Android Donut, to Android 2.1 Eclair, to Android 2.3 Froyo, to Android 2.3 Gingerbread, to Android 3.0 Honeycomb, to Android 2.4 Ice Cream SandwichIce Cream Sandwich is the latest addition to the Android menu, and looks to bring together the fragmented community of OSes.

The newest version of the Android OS, nicknamed “Ice Cream Sandwich”, was announced today at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco.

The next installment of Android is the “everywhere OS”, and will bridge the gap between the patchwork quilt of Android 2 and Android 3-based devices out there that are seemingly all running on slightly different iterations of Android.

Ice Cream Sandwich will be packed with a handful of new features that are sure to keep Android users happy.

Firstly, and probably most importantly, Ice Cream Sandwich will be universally available throughout all Google devices, allowing it to permeate a large part of the already enormous Android customer base. It is meant to bring an end to the “fragmentation” of the brand of OSes. This will address an issue that has defined Android as of late.

But Ice Cream Sandwich doesn’t stop at the unifying of the Android OS family.

Other features include USB hosting, allowing users to plug in any manner of USB device to that phone (including an Xbox 360 controller), as well as an updated and streamlined UI, multitasking, a virtual camera operator, and the ability to rescale widgets to any size on the homescreen.

The Virtual Camera Operator feature will allow devices to auto-focus on device users who are video chatting via facial detection software.

We’ll soon see just how sweet this sandwich really is – but not until at least the fourth quarter of 2001 according to Google representatives. Source : Know Your Cell